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made several big announcements at their yearly Crunchyroll Expo, including the release of new clips from upcoming series, the announcement of a new book, new partnerships with other entertainment companies, and more.
The annual Crunchyroll Expo was held virtually this year due to the on-going COVID-19 pandemic, but that didn't stop the anime streaming company from hosting a few big announcements and reveals. Prior to the start of the free online convention, Crunchyroll announced that it has surpassed over 5 million paid subscribers
and over 120 million registered users total. Just six months prior, the company announced that it had passed the 4 million subscriber milestone, meaning its growth is actually speeding up over time. The virtual convention also revealed the new opening sequence
to the highly anticipated Blade Runner: Black Lotus
, and also hosted a panel by the show's directors
, Shinji Aramaki and Kenji Kamiyama, who were previously best known for their work on Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
The convention began with a speech from legendary horror manga author Junji Ito, who began his appearance with the phrase "Oh no, I'm being Space Jam'ed" and still somehow managed to deliver a heartfelt and rousing speech about anime and manga's ability to inspire and bring people together. Ito is the author of the Eisner Award winning of Remina and Venus in the Blind Spot. One of Ito's best known works, Uzumaki, is currently being adapted into an anime series by Adult Swim.
Crunchyroll also revealed a new trailer for one of their new original works, High Guardian Spice. The series is created by Raye Rodriguez and follows four girls trying to uncover their true identities while they battle a mysterious threat to the entire world. The series will premiere soon exclusively on Crunchyroll.
A new clip was also revealed for the soon-to-be released Fena: Pirate Princess
. The highly anticipated Crunchyroll Original series is co-produced by Ghost in the Shell
studio Production I.G. and blends elements of action, comedy and elements of classic shojo manga together with a mix of pirates and ninjas. The series is scheduled to premiere on Aug. 15.
Crunchyroll also announced that several new anime series would be coming to its streaming service in the near future. The company describes each of these shows with the following:
In addition to all the new anime announcements, Crunchyroll also revealed that it will be publishing a book about anime. Entitled Essential Anime, the book highlights 50 of the most influential and important anime series and movies of all time, and is intended to give readers a primer on the history of the medium and its impact on both Japanese and global pop culture.
Crunchyroll also announced two partnerships with other entertainment companies. First, the anime streamer announced that they were producing the new sci-fi property Dark Star Squadron
with Guardians of the Galaxy
and Star Trek
actor Zoe Saldana and her production company, Cinestar Pictures. The company also announced that it is partnering with Xbox to give all Crunchyroll premium subscribers three months of free access to the Xbox Game Pass
service for PC, which gives users on-demand access to over a hundred games from Microsoft, EA and other publishers.


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The “Living Electric” display at the 2011 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) was a time for Ford engineers to learn more about the all-new Focus Electric.
Shawn Lightner, Ford global electrified products program manager said “We thought this would be a perfect opportunity to discover even more about how the cars perform using the data acquisition technology employed on other development vehicles.”
“The Ford engineering team was able to capture and gain insight on how the batteries were performing from charging to depletion, the range the Focus Electric was getting per charge, as well as data on how the car was doing overall,” explained Lightner.
The focal point of Ford’s “Living Electric” display at the North American International Auto Show is the 208 foot track which allows attendees to ride in one of Ford’s new electric vehicles, the Ford Focus or Transit Connect Electric. Credit: Ford Motor Co.At the Living Electric display on the Ford stand, more than 10,000 NAIAS visitors took a ride in a Focus Electric on an elevated track 20 feet high, 208 feet in length and 71 feet in diameter. Hands-on technology displays, digital tutorials and conversations with experts also helped people learn how different types of electrified vehicles will fit various lifestyles.
Source: Ford Motor Company

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The chances of tech giant Apple buying Netflix this year stand at around 40%, according to Citi analysts.
Apple, which looks set to become the first US$1tn business, is set to repatriate around US$220 billion following US President Donald Trump’s corporation tax cut.
Apple is believed to have more than US$250 billion to fund acquisitions. Netflix currently has a market cap of around US$87 billion.
Video is becoming increasingly important to the consumer tech firm, which has hired Jamie Erlicht and Zack van Amburg to lead original content.
However, it is not clear what platform it will put its original shows such as its reboot of Amazing Stories on, and Netflix would provide an answer to that.
According to analysis from Citi’s Jim Suva and Asiya Merchant, Netflix is by far the most likely acquisition target.
Apple, they told clients, “has too much cash – nearly US$250 billion – growing at US$50 billion a year. This is a good problem to have”.
“Historically, Apple has avoided repatriating cash to the US to avoid high taxation. As such, tax reform may allow Apple to put this cash to use.
With over 90% of its cash sitting overseas, a one-time 10% repatriation tax would give Apple US$220 billion for M&A or buybacks.”
Netflix’s share price has skyrocketed in the past half-decade, with The Walt Disney Company among major entertainment firms previously linked with a takeover.
However, with Disney now taking on Netflix with its own SVOD service, questions are again being asked about the future of the business.
Disney is now buying the entertainment assets of 21st Century Fox, further highlighting the race to scale that has emerged in the media and entertainment landscape.
Business Insider first reported the Apple-Netflix link.
Neither Apple nor Netflix could be reached for comment.


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It is said that YouTube’s purchase of Twitch for $1 billion is nearing an end. As reported by The Verge, however, it turns out that Google wasn’t the first the company to approach the livestreaming service.
According to The Verge, Twitch initially rejected other proposals of purchase from other companies like Microsoft, but was willing to accept a partnership with YouTube.
Allegedly, according to sources close to the matter, Twitch and Microsoft had agreed on a price and were working out details such as Twitch’s independence as a company and a brand.
However, Twitch has been said to have evaluated possible bids with Google, and has allegedly decided that YouTube will be the best fit to help the company grow. Twitch is said to believe that Google can help it become what it wants to be: the definitive platform for watching and streaming live gaming experiences.
“ Microsoft and others have made serious approaches to Twitch, ” claims the source, “ but YouTube was deemed the better fit. It’s unlikely that the gamer-friendly Twitch would have wanted any part of a deal that would tie the service to Xbox, as it’s embedded in Sony’s rival PlayStation console as well. ”
You can read The Verge’s report on the matter via the source link below.
[ The Verge ]


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Sweet! Amazon Plans WNY Facility
Amazon will have a home in the Western New York area after all. Amazon announced that there will be a few distribution centers scattered around the United States and one of them is just down the Thruway from Buffalo.
According to Metro News:
Amazon will be opening a distribution center in Western New York. Yesterday Monroe County leaders announced that the retail giant would be opening its first Upstate facility in Henrietta. The 70-thousand-square-foot facility could be open before the end of the summer. It isn't clear how many jobs this will bring.
Amazon is leading the way for how items are purchased online and previously there was hopes the Buffalo area would be the regional headquarters for Amazon. Unfortunately, Buffalo-Rochester didn't make it past the first round of qualifying cities.
Source: Democrat and Chronicle


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Realme Philippines is Searching for Realme Squad Leaders
Realme will soon enter the Philippine market. And they are looking for Realme Squad Leaders to grow the community of fans.
Realme is a technology brand that specializes in providing high quality smartphones in South East Asia. They will soon officially enter the Philippine smartphone market set on November 29, 2018 (read here: https://davaogeekhub.com/realme-enter-ph/).
The smartphone brand recently dominated the monumental 11.11 Online Shopping Festival, named as the hottest selling smartphone brand in South East Asia.
The brand is in the works of building a community here in the country, and is named the Realme Squad. To further grow the community, the brand is searching for Realme Squad Leaders, avid tech enthusiasts with passion towards technology that can help provide information to co-community members. They will have the benefit of experiencing first the latest Realme devices and even propose their own community activities to be the pioneer of the brand.
For more information, you can join the Realme Community Philippines Official on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/groups/1623618714604078/). You can also check out the Realme official Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/PHRealme/).


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Unilever announced a new policy which aims to reduce fraud and increase transparency to improve integrity within influencer marketing.
The company has vowed to to stop advertising with influencers who have bought their followers, promised its own brands will never buy followers and that it will prioritise partners who increase their transparency and work to rid poor digital business practices.
This is good news for those who grow their social following naturally and bad news for all those who abuse the system. Hopefully this will signal the start of the tide turning against celebrities, vloggers and bloggers who have fake followings which help them secure brand collaborations and paid partnersnhips.
As a company Unilever is the mothership when it comes to household brands, under it’s umbrella it has Dove, Magnum, Lynx, Persil, Marmite and Ben and Jerry’s to name just a few. Influencers regularly work with these brands to increase their awareness and to promote new launches.
A frightening figure in The Times on 18 June 2018 said that according to estimates from industry insiders up to 40 percent of social-media influencers have bought followers. And, that’s just an estimate!
I should imagine the figure is probably much higher than that. Those with fake followings are making it hard for those who are building up a following organically, it’s also probably depriving legitimate influencers from opportunities they could be considered for.
Buying followers undermines the whole system and its about time brands started stamping it out. I bet the next top money making app will be the one that identifies if a person has bought their following or not – developers go, go, go!
It would be fantastic to have some proper research on the number of people who have bought a following too. The sooner we identify the true scale of the problem the quicker it can be addressed and resolved.
What’s your thoughts on people buying followers? It’s a big move from Unilever, do you think it’s the right one?
Personally, I think it’s a step in the right direction. An audience should be clear whether an influencer is legitimate. Influencers become influential based on a relationship of trust, transparency and confidence with their audience. Influencer marketing relies on that un-tarnished link built on trust and confidence which in turn builds a good reputation. This is basic PR, as soon as reputation is damaged or lost it’s a hard path to re-build it.
The influencers that pay for fake followers risk the reputation of the industry and all other influencers. It’s another example of when the few ruin it for the many.
If this was happening in traditional advertising, the advertising standards agency would have sanctioned the brand and influencer involved to protect the audience.
Where social channels are not properly regulated it’s currently a lot easier for someone to manipulate and deceive their audience should they wish to do so.
That’s not ok, and if it was in any other industry it would not be tolerated. There’s going to be a lot of change at some point and Unilever might have just sparked the match on the topic by bringing it into the national newspaper headlines and the public domain.
Commenting, Keith Weed, Unilever CMO said: “In February, I said we needed to rebuild trust back into our digital ecosystems and wider society. One of the ways we can do that is to increase integrity and transparency in the influencer space. We need to address this through responsible content, responsible platforms and responsible infrastructure.
“At Unilever, we believe influencers are an important way to reach consumers and grow our brands. Their power comes from a deep, authentic and direct connection with people, but certain practices like buying followers can easily undermine these relationships.
“Today we are announcing clear commitments to support and maintain the authenticity and trust of influencer marketing.
“The key to improving the situation is three-fold: cleaning up the influencer ecosystem by removing misleading engagement; making brands and influencers more aware of the use of dishonest practices; and improving transparency from social platforms to help brands measure impact.
“We need to take urgent action now to rebuild trust before it’s gone forever.”
Let’s see if Unilever stick to what they’ve said, how they will enforce it? Actually, how will they enforce it if there’s no clear way of seeing who’s paid for follower or not? Are Unilever being given inside information directly from social media platforms? How will Unilever know?
Hmm, lots to think about, Unilever you better play this one straight, because if this is just a stunt, all words and no action, well then that might just come back to bite you on the bum.
P.S. Having just spoke to to Scott Guthrie (PR and influencer marketing ace!) I’m also keen to remind you that it’s all about the financial bottom line for Unilever. A risk to Unilever’s reputation doesn’t sell products, if the followers aren’t real, that also doesn’t sell products and there is no boost to the profits. It’s always about the money, money, money!


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How making it British Can Reduce Textile Waste
“Every day that goes by in which we don’t do something about it [climate change] is a day wasted”, said David Attenborough, ahead of the 2021 COP26 climate summit in Glasgow. “Every month that passes, it [climate change] becomes more and more incontrovertible.” With the UK being the third largest producer of waste in the world, with around 140 million worth of textile waste sent to landfill each year, it is clear the UK textile industry is undergoing a crisis of excess. By this, I mean, the British fashion industry is suffering an unnecessary failure regarding disposable goods, consumer trends and the production of natural fibres. With the climate crisis becoming near to irreparable, the synergy between our desire for a sustainable future and our current environmental challenges must be taken seriously.
The world consumes 80 billion items of clothing a year, with the fast fashion industry worth 1.2 trillion dollars. While our modern landscape has developed a new understanding of ecological existence, the British fashion industry is ultimately overdue in its efforts towards sustainable justice. With the production of natural fibres under pressure, our consideration towards the future of textiles production must focus on ‘making it British’, as exports of homemade textiles are no longer a longstanding, feasible output for the environment. Ultimately, to move forward with our sustainable approaches we must indeed look back and engage with our past histories. As an industry that is not shy of controversy, we must encourage a new ‘climate beneficial’ business. Past lessons can inform our futures sustainable innovation and this, along with local manufacturing chains, will help curb the growth of waste. The future of fashion is circular and nothing reinforces this more than British grown, British loved textiles.
The Government Environmental Audit Committee recently announced plans to work closely with major fashion chains to reduce plastic waste and encourage recycling, along with a ban on dumping clothes in landfill. These are two key actions where increasing usage of natural fibres, such as British wool, can make a real difference. British wool, which is not a fast fibre, is a key way forward for sustainable textiles in the UK. But how do we navigate an industry which relies heavily on exports for profit? And how does ‘making it British’ really reduce textile waste?
In terms of the contemporary fashion market, the regeneration of British wool supports a circular economy whereby textile fibres can be recycled, reused and reduced. By keeping farming, manufacturing, consumerism and recycling on a continuous, limited cycle we are not only reintroducing and respecting British agricultural tradition, but encouraging a wider move away from the traditional linear trajectory of the clothing industry. Instead, the focus is on longevity and biodegradable alternatives. Ultimately, when brands manufacture clothing locally, lead times are less and there’s less guesswork involved in the buying process. As a result, minimum orders are lowered and factories are not churning out thousands of units no one wants to purchase. This is why Yan Tan believe in small production runs from our factory in Leicester, UK that aim to sell through, meaning no waste and a lowered carbon footprint.
British wool, known for its durability is a renewable and recyclable fibre source, which helps isolate carbon form our atmosphere into the soil. Products made from synthetic fibres are made up of materials that aren’t recyclable or biodegradable. However as wool breaks down naturally and does not cause any environmental hazards, this means textile waste is minimised and regenerated back into the earth. From farm, to wardrobe, to earth. Safely.
As we continue to evolve as an industry, it is obvious our narrative must emphasise innovative, sustainable action. Here at Yan Tan, inciting positive change means respecting a British institution, whilst encouraging forward change. Sustainability, transparency and craft are the pillars of our movement, designed to support the British wool industry and encourage climate action. So, to ‘make it British’, means to support ecological and agricultural success.


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In partnership with 71 Brewing
Wednesday 12 February 2020
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Duncan Alexander, 71 Brewing’s founder and native Dundonian, left a career in IT to pursue his brewing dreams in 2016. He was living in Edinburgh at the time, but saw that Dundee was one of the only cities of any size that didn’t have a craft brewery. Having been through some tough years, the city was also making general comeback, with more independent business, more tourism and, crucially, the opening of the V&A Dundee. The decision to open up in his home town was clear.
Work started on the brewery in 2016 and its first beer – Dundonian Pilsner – was released at the end of the same year. As 71’s sales operations manager Craig Cunningham explains, it started as a lager-only brewery: “Duncan’s always had a soft spot for lager, but opening up in Dundee it really was the obvious thing to start with. There wasn’t a massive craft scene here at the time, and it’s the style that most of the local pubs still buy more of than anything else. So, it was a foot in the door, but it also kind of pre-empted the big resurgence in craft lager that we’ve seen over the past couple of years.”
Buoyed by the success of its lagers, the brewery quickly expanded into limited batches of ales, which became it’s ‘Blueprint’ series and includes IPAs, pale ales, sours, stouts and more. While 71 is still largely associated with lagers, the Blueprint beers are also excellent; nothing at a crazy ABV and with a clear focus on drinkability and consistency.
71 has always been quite clear about its ambitions. Alasdair invested in good kit up-front, and set up in a big, modern space that would support future growth. This is in marked contrast to many craft breweries, which quickly end up bursting at the seams as soon as they achieve any kind of success. And it’s needed the space; particularly since it installed a new canning line in 2018, business has really taken off, with exports to eight European countries and a major supermarket contract to fulfil. The newest addition to the brewery floor has been two enormous 80-hectolitre outdoor fermenters.
One of the most interesting facets of 71 Brewing’s development has been its prolific collaboration with its national and international friends. “The collabs have grown definitely,” confirms Craig. “You’re kind of isolated up in Scotland, in a way that you’re not in England. It’s just good to get out and socialise, or get folk up here, to network and meet new people. Plus we can find out what they’re good at, brew their beer and steal their knowledge!”
By all accounts though, breweries are practically lining up to collaborate with 71, and the team’s reputation for being excellent value on a night out is as strong (and well earned) as the reputation of its beers.
Duncan's always had a soft spot for lager
If there was any remaining risk of Craig getting lonely though, that was put to rest last year with the news that Edinburgh’s Vault City – the red-hot mixed fermentation acolytes who features in our Raise the Bar issue last year – would be taking a permanent residency under the same 71’s roof. A collaboration between the (brew)housemates will be pouring at Brew//LDN, alongside an imperial dry-hopped pilsner and a host of other goodies.
The future plan is just to keep striving; pushing into new markets and putting some work into the taproom to capitalise on the success of its legendary brewery tour, which was last year named Scotland’s best beer experience.
“The tour is kind of a comedy experience, rather than just a dry explanation of what everything does,” says Craig. “The guys that’s in charge of them, Ian Clark, he’s a comedian and wanted to do something a bit more fun. So he’ll put on the crystal maze theme tune and drag people round the brewery, get them to put labels on their heads. About 82% fact with the rest made up of comedy and misinformation.
“We’ve always been pretty pragmatic in terms of how the business is run, because we’ve wanted to always punch above our weigh. Unless you’re striving for something, you end up stagnating and become quite boring. Got to keep things fresh and exciting, eh?”
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Last Thursday, tech giants Microsoft and Google each had a big announcement. The former officially announced its new search engine Bing, an announcement that the tech world knew was coming, as its latest attempt to reverse the tide of Google’s search dominance. The latter surprised its audience of developers with a deluge of information in its preview of Google Wave, an amalgam of email, IM, wiki/document editing, photo sharing, etc., all done in real-time, that according to its creators “is what email would look like if it were invented today.”
Google’s tsunami of an announcement drowned out Microsoft’s news for the day and as the swell grows its easy to forecast that the storm isn’t over. As developers join the flow and create their own applications, we will all feel the ripples for a long time. Never content to ride out a current success, Google seems ever capable of looking over the current crest for the next opportunity to catch more momentum. Bing’s release though, instead of being the watershed moment hoped for by Microsoft, may only turn out to be a drop in the bucket.
Ok, enough of that. In case you missed the point, I crammed a boat load (another one!) of metaphor into the preceding paragraphs to illustrate the branding effectiveness of Google Wave, which I think is a great name, especially when compared to Bing. A great name attaches itself like a barnacle (again!) to thoughts and feelings you already have thus making it more memorable. Wave does this fluidly (I can’t stop). Bing does not.
Take note of how a product is launched and you’ll see how confident a company is in it’s branding. Google Wave is introduced and the developers are wearing some cheap tshirts; Bing is annouced with an $80 million advertising budget. A good name “has legs.” It’s easy to talk about. A bad name has an advertising plan while a good name IS the advertising plan.
Branding aside, both products look nice. I did a few searches on Bing and the results look fine. But I’m so tied into Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs, etc. that I don’t think I’ll be spending much more time getting used to it. I also watched the video of the Wave presentation, and it looks like another home run for Google.


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H&M is about to open its most tech-centric store to date in New York City's Time Square, with a little help from Lady Gaga. Akos Stiller/Bloomberg
The UpTake: To compete with e-commerce, stores need to not only be equally tech-savvy, but bursting with in-real-life drama, and the new H&M store opening in Times Square is poised to be a prime example of how it's done.
H&M, the fast-fashion chain that has had much success with celebrity designers, is going with plain-old celebrity with an appearance by Lady Gaga as it opens its most technology centric store ever in New York City this week.
The pop star, whose new album was released yesterday and is selling in 175 H&M stores worldwide, will be walking around the 42,000-square foot store at 4 Times Square and interacting with customers when it opens at 12:01 a.m. on Thursday morning.
But the real upstart move is the way this store is going to be set up, its technology features, and even the hours it will operate.
First of all, here’s one big aggravation saver: shoppers will be able to pay for their purchases in the dressing room—and there’s 44 of them in all. Secondly, the store will be open from 9 a.m. to 1 a.m., seven days a week.
In addition to the giant LED screens on the side of the building and a curbed one above the main entrance, four 70-foot high logos on the building’s 45th floor are lit up in a countdown to the store opening.
There are other tech touches inside too, according to an interview with Daniel Kulle, the company's North American president.
Here's Women’s Wear Daily:
Indoors, there are two LED portals above the entrance that display different graphic experiences, a display of revolving mannequins, vertical LED screens behind the fashion display, and a gigantic 20-by-30-foot LED screen over the cash wrap. All in all, there is more than 7,000 square feet of LED screens. The second- and third-floor fitting-room areas have iPad stations and benches.
Trusses with industrial lighting can be found throughout the store. Hanging from the third-floor ceiling, 53 feet above the ground floor, are trusses that can be raised and lowered. From them will hang mannequins, Kulle said. “We have cages for them and we can hang them in different ways so they look like they’re flying.”
After getting an MA in journalism from Syracuse University, Teresa worked as a general assignment newspaper reporter—general on purpose because besides the usual city hall and police articles, there was the chance to fly an F-18 with the Blue Angels and tag along with bounty hunters on a stakeout—all good preparation for covering entrepreneurs.
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Our lives have become all about productivity.
On-demand apps bring us our food and do our laundry, valet services park our cars, and even services box and ship the clothes we bought online and want to return.
Huge industries are being built with the assumption that our time is far too valuable to be taken up with mundane tasks – there’s so much more time to watch Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) and check Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) now.
But a few new services have popped up that leave me both intrigued and confused. I’m referring to spaces people can rent for naps. Yes naps.
The first one I learned about was a one-man shop called Doze. Owner Brandon Smith left his job in tech marketing to pursue a dream of helping people with busy schedules get some rest to help them rocket back into their day.
Smith has three $11,000 sleep pods in a small downtown office space that people can rent for 25-50 minutes. Currently he is offering a sliding scale to pay for the service but he told me people, on average, are paying $18 to $20 for 25 minutes.
“We all have heard the benefits of napping and being fully rested,” Smith told me shortly after I used one of his nap pods. “This is a test, a passion project to see if people would want to take a nap if it was offered to them.”
Another company that is offering space for naps, a little mid-day yoga session or a small team meeting is Breather. This mobile app allows users to rent small meeting and rest spaces for between 30 minutes and an entire day in San Francisco, New York City, Ottawa, Montreal and Boston. The Montreal-based company has raised a substantial chunk of money, $27.5 million, to become an Airbnb for 9-5ers.
Another new player is San Francisco-based PeerSpace, which just raised $5 million this month bringing funding to $7.3 million.
Soon after its launch, companies like LinkedIn (NYSE: LNKD) and Instacart jumped on as users and were booking meeting spaces through the platform.
PeerSpace has seen success in the San Francisco and Los Angeles markets, growing 70 percent over the last quarter and nearly 1,000 percent year-over-year for the first three quarters of 2014.


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After what seems like an eternity, it appears that Full Tilt’s U.S. constituency will finally be receiving their winnings paid out. Full Tilt has been the subject of a so-called witch-hunt by the U.S. Department of Justice that saw many of the major online poker card rooms banned from the country’s soil. While Full Tilt has recently been acquired by Pokerstars as part of a massive settlement, the players themselves have yet to see their part of the money.
This has been an ongoing situation for around two years, since the Department of Justice officially banned the online card room in April of 2011. Accusing the company of circumventing U.S. laws by using shady payment processors and attempting to disguise U.S. transactions as overseas ones, the DOJ filed charges and eventually arrested Full Tilt’s owners. To add insult to injury, Full Tilt also saw its operations in the UK being shut down as well, further inconveniencing winning players overseas.
As of this past December, the DOJ had not even selected a company to process the return payments for winning players. With a supporting group called the Poker Players Alliance in their corner, players have been championing their rights to have easy access to funds for months with still no actual money being deposited into their bank accounts.
Finally, just this past month, a payment processor has been announced and Full Tilt has also announced that payments will be dispersed “soon.” The Garden City Group, hired by the U.S. Department of Justice will be making claims available at FullTiltPokerClaims.com. Claims for funds will be made via electronic notification, however the feature has not gone live yet on the website.
We are sincerely hoping that players receive their entire account balances, as anything less would be thievery. As a reputable online card room, Pokerstars, who acquired Full Tilt as part of an agreement to make good on the payouts for their players, must uphold their end of this agreement. Otherwise, the backlash the global card room might face from angry players could seriously outweigh the few hundred thousand dollars that are mere drops in a bucket for the multi-billion dollar gambling entity.
While things have been moving extremely slowly, it is a very good sign that an actual vendor for payment processing has been announced, as this is a sure step in the right direction.


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Doom 4 • Page 3
Although id didn’t show Doom 4 at QuakeCon today, the company did say that the shooter will be a graphical monster, and significantly more visually impressive than EA’s Rage. Doom will “not be another four-year development period”, said tech lead John Carmack, but will have “three times the graphics richness” because it runs at 30 […]3
In an interview with MaximumPC, id Software co-founder and software engineer John Carmack says that the id 5 technology used in Rage has been given such an overhaul that Doom 4 will appear to be an entirely different new game engine all together. “It’s going to look like a totally new game engine on there, […]5
According to Shacknews, id’s confirmed development of DOOM 4. “Doom is part of the id Software DNA and demands the greatest talent and brightest minds in the industry to bring the next installment of our flagship franchise to Earth,” said id Software CEO Todd Hollenshead. “It’s critical for id Software to have the best creative […]11
Doom 4 Breaking news
No breaking news found for doom 4.


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Welcome back to another exciting edition of the Clix Marketing Blog’s Weekly PPC New and Views! We’ve got a great list of articles and announcements from all around the PPC industry, so put your inside shoes on Mr. Rogers. Here we go!
From the Experts
We’ve been hearing a lot about Google mandating that users switch to enhanced campaigns. But we don’t often hear about someone telling Google (and Bing and Yahoo) what to do. This week, the FTC sent a letter to a group of the major search engines, requiring them to more prominently label advertising as such. Over at PPC Hero, Sean Quadlin walks us through the main points of the letter as well as what those point could mean for us advertisers in his post The End of Paid Search As We Know It? Definitely worth a read.
Search Engine Watch
We’ve all been hearing a lot about Enhanced Campaigns recently, but in her post on Search Engine Watch this week, Melissa Mackey takes a different approach when evaluating Enhanced Campaigns. In Do the PPC Engines Reward the Right Behaviors?, Mel talks about the actions Google has taken to decrease the number of campaigns from advertisers, and what those changes have actually caused advertisers to do.
In what is likely the most epic article of the month, Marty Wentraub and Lauren Litwinka of aimClear have put together an amazing view of Enhanced Campaigns from the monetary stance of Google, as well as compiling a list of articles from around the industry about the impending Enhanced Campaigns. And that’s all you really need to know. Go check out the article and see what they had to say. It’s great.
Our last post from the experts deviates from Enhanced Campaigns and brings us back to regular account management. Seasonality. It’s a force within nearly every ppc campaign, but it’s not always obvious. Lucky for us, Bailey Lau over at PPC Associates has written a post on How to Determine Seasonality in a New SEM Account.Check. It. Out.
From the Engines
We’ve got a couple updates from Google AdWords this week. The first is a new type of remarketing ad copy available to all advertisers with an Google Merchant Center account. Dynamic remarketing ads let advertisers reconnect with potential customers by showing ads that include the actual products they viewed on the site. Read more about dynamic remarketing here: Reconnect with Site Visitors Using Beautiful, Customized Dynamic Ads.
The second update coming from Google AdWords is actually a joint post with Google Analytics. On Tuesday, Google announced a set of improvements for linking Analytics and AdWords accounts. Check out the post, see what they have to say, and maybe even watch their cool little video while you’re in the neighborhood!
Over on the Bing Ads blog, it was announced that Siteink Extensions are Now Available in ALL Bing Ads Markets! Yay! Honestly though, Bing Ads in making some great strides to bring in more advertisers to their system. And hey, if Matt Van Wagner had any effect on advertisers this week, those changes are going to be even more important if people start shifting Google dollars over the Bing Ads.
That wraps up this week’s edition of PPC News and Views. Tune in next week for more stories from around the industry!


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Apple’s 3D Sensing Tech is at Least Two Years Ahead of Qualcomm
Apple holds up to a two year lead on rival Qualcomm, when it comes to software and hardware development of accurate 3D sensing systems.
Qualcomm Unveils Improved Depth-Sensing Camera for Android Devices
The advances will feature in the company's Qualcomm Spectra Module Program, capable of improved biometric authentication and high-resolution depth sensing for mobile devices and head mounted displays.
Samsung Galaxy S8 Iris Scanner Bypassed by German Hackers
A couple of members of the German Chaos Computer Club (CCC) show in a newly released video how to fool the Galaxy S8's iris scanner with a digital photograph, an office printer and a contact lens.
Apple’s 10th Anniversary iPhone Rumoured to Have Iris Scanner
Next year's anniversary iPhone rumoured to include iris scanner.


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Hundreds of data breaches manage to steal confidential information from companies every day. The adversaries seem to be a step ahead of even the phishing prevention best practices. Hence, learning from past security incidents and improving one’s cyber defense is the key to a safe digital environment. The following are this week’s top cyber headlines
Data Breach At Razer Exposes 100,000 Customers Records
A recent data breach at Razer exposed the records of an estimated 100,000 of its customers. The breach was discovered by cybersecurity researcher Bob Diachenko who said that the data was publicly available on Razer’s Elasticsearch cluster since 18th August 2020. The exposed details included the full name, email, phone number, internal customer ID, order number, order details, and billing and shipping address.
It was after three weeks of Diachenko’s notification that Razer had fixed the server misconfiguration. They said that no credit card information, passwords, or other sensitive data were exposed. Razer claims to have taken measures for protection against phishing and soon reviewed its IT security and systems.
Ransomware Hits Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS)
One of the largest school districts of the US – Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS), recently underwent a ransomware attack that has affected the records of a majority of its students and employees. Although the school’s distance learning and remote learning program have not been affected, attacks on schools have become rampant and dangerous.
However, the FCPS has reassured everyone of its approach to such adversities and vows to adopt all necessary anti-phishing solutions to prosecute the guilty. The institute has collaborated with the FBI and hopes to revive from the attack soon. Maze ransomware operators have claimed ownership for the attack on FCPS.
Ransomware Hits Development Bank of Seychelles (DBS)
The Central Bank of Seychelles (CBS) was notified on 9th September of a ransomware attack that the Development Bank of Seychelles (DBS) recently underwent. Although CBS hasn’t informed much about the nature of the attack or the types of customer information compromised, it has urged DBS to keep its clients and stakeholders updated about the incident.
DBS has launched an investigation and adopted necessary anti-phishing measures. It shall disclose further details as soon as the investigations uncover more information.
Data Breach Hits Retail Giant Staples
Ever since a security incident in 2014, the retail giant Staples has managed to keep out of headlines for similar incidents. However, a recent data breach at the company has affected some of its customers’ order information. Staples hasn’t released any public notice about the same and has sent out individual emails to those affected by its system’s unauthorized access.
The breach occurred around 2nd September and affected a limited amount of customer data, which Staples categorizes as non-sensitive customer order data. This is to say that the names, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, last four digits of credit card, order details, etc., have been stolen, and account or payment details remain unaffected. But the adversaries can still use these details to launch spear-phishing attacks on individuals with poor knowledge of phishing prevention.
Public Health Wales Accidently Makes COVID Patients’ Details Public
The Public Health Wales recently notified of its security blunder, which exposed the personal data of around 18,105 Welsh COVID patients. The data was uploaded online (due to a human error) on the afternoon of 30th August and remained online for 20 hours before it was finally deleted on 31st August. The exposed data included the initials, dates of birth, geographical area, and gender for 16,179 people, and the names of the nursing homes occupied for 1,926 people.
Although not much can be done with these details, the data was viewed 56 times by unknown users in the 20 hours that it was online. All Wales residents who tested Covid-19 positive between 27th February and 30th August had their details posted online. Public Health Wales is full of regret for its failure in protecting the interests of the citizens of Wales and is taking necessary anti-phishing protection measures to prevent such incidents in the future.
Data Breach Hits Department Of Veterans Affairs (VA)
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) recently underwent a data breach which affected the details of about 46,000 veterans. The adversaries used social engineering techniques to illegally access the application of the VA Financial Services Center (FSC). They then diverted the VA payments of healthcare providers for the US veterans’ medical treatment and possibly compromised the Social Security numbers and other veterans’ details.
The FSC is adopting phishing attack prevention measures and has notified individuals about the breach. They have also extended free credit monitoring services to victims. Besides, they have brought down the compromised FSC app and shall reinstate it only after reviewing its security.
Zoom Introduces Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)
The video calling platform Zoom, which was banned for its security concerns, has been working on its phishing protection service ever since, and its newest development is the two-factor authentication (2FA).
Zoom’s 2FA is available to all users across its web, desktop, and mobile applications, irrespective of whether they own paid or free accounts. The 2FA enables admins and organizations to protect their users from adversaries online. The following are the features available for users:
- Use of authentication apps supporting Time-Based One-Time Password (TOTP) protocol (Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator, FreeOTP, etc.).
- Automated codes are sent by Zoom via SMS or phone call.
- Use of recovery codes to access accounts in case of stolen or lost devices.
Lockbit Launches Data-Leak Site
What ransomware operators are doing these days is to steal the data encrypted in their attacks and sell it later on the dark web, even after their ransom has been paid. The LockBit ransomware gang has recently launched its data leak site to host similar sellings of data stolen from attacks.
The data leak site currently contains two victims’ data – an automation parts manufacturer and a shipping company.
Major Automated Hack On Magento Stores
Magento stores running its first version for which End-of-Life (EoL) was announced back in June 2020, are undergoing an automated Magecart hack. In one of the most massive hacks, thousands of e-commerce stores with Magento are facing a unique skimmer.
Ten stores were infected with the credit card skimming script on 11th September 11, followed by 1,058 site hacks on the second day, 603 hacks on the third, and 233 on 14th September. The adversaries used the Magento Connect feature for downloading and installing malicious files. As per reports, the hack was facilitated by a zero-day vulnerability sold online by a threat actor named z3r0day in August.


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A slideshow peek at NOCO's new retail concept
GRAND ISLAND, N.Y. -- Calling it a "store-within-a-store" concept, NOCO Energy Corp. has opened its first Dino-Mart, a new gasoline convenience store franchise, in Grand Island, N.Y.
Open seven days a week, 24 hours a day, the new 3,200-square-foot Dino-Mart features both a Coffee Culture and Grand Island Eatery inside the store. Grand Island Eatery offers fresh sandwiches and other grab-and-go meal items that will be made fresh daily.
There is a dining area inside the store that includes a fireplace, free WiFi and comfortable seating. Dino-Mart is a Valero gasoline retailer, featuring six fuel pumps. The fuel canopy features low-watt LED lighting to reduce energy consumption.
Local business, civic and government leaders gathered Friday to officially open the new store for business during a ribbon-cutting ceremony, as reported in a Raymond James/CSP Daily News Flash on Friday.
Watch the slideshow below for a look at NOCO's Dino-Mart concept.
"We are excited to bring the first Dino-Mart to western New York and on Grand Island, where we believe the store will fill a need for on-the-go customers in an area that really does not have quick and easy access to a gasoline convenience store. On behalf of my partners in this endeavor we are very grateful for all of the community support we received to build our new store," said Chuck Rizzo, who is one of three managing partners of Dino-Mart.
And he told WIVB-TV, "This is the only retail location within miles on this part of the island. So we're hoping that it will serve the community in a positive way and that's what we're trying to do is be a positive influence in the community and do our part to be good citizens and a good members of the community."
Michael F. Newman, executive vice president of NOCO Energy, said, "Chuck Rizzo and his partners have been great to work with throughout this project and we are especially pleased that our first Dino-Mart will open in western New York. Our goal is to grow the Dino-Mart brand throughout our operating area and then across Upstate New York as we continue to expand and enhance our gasoline convenience store model."
He said, "We plan to open a second Dino-Mart in the Rochester metropolitan region in the next couple of weeks."
The Grand Island Dino-Mart, which cost approximately $2 million to build, will employ 20 full-time and part-time employees.
Dino-Marts will be operated by franchisees while NOCO remains the franchisor, said a report by Buffalo Business First.
NOCO is a family-owned and -operated company that provides for the energy needs of residential and commercial customers at home, at work and on the go through a full line of products and services including natural gas, electricity, propane, heating oil, HVAC sales and service, commercial fuels and industrial lubricants. The Tonawanda, N.Y.-based company also operates 33 NOCO Express convenience stores throughout the region.


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Another day, another Apple lawsuit emerges. This time, a class-action lawsuit alleges that Apple is knowingly releasing iOS updates that can slowly reduce an iPhone’s performance. Degrading a smartphone’s performance will inevitably force users to upgrade to a newer model.
The lawsuit is from the Portuguese Consumer Protection Agency, Deco Proteste. As per the suit, Apple has “deliberately manipulated, and without informing its users, the performance of its most popular devices.”
As per the suit, it appears that Apple is doing this on purpose to force its users to replace their battery or the smartphone as a whole.
Particularly, the agency is referencing the iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6s, and 6s Plus. However, the agency said that any Portuguese user could join in whatever iPhone model they have.
The agency is also pointing to the iOS 11 update as the beginning of the case. It is said that Apple is aware that the update will have “considerable impacts on iPhone performance” but still encouraged its users to update. In return, the agency said that those who updated ended up with a slow phone, with a “weak performance and unexpected blackouts.”
Dubbed as “programmed obsolescence”, Deco Proteste and Euroconsumer have been attempting to come up with a resolution for affected users in the last three years.
Reports about Apple deliberately slowing down iPhones via software updates are not new. Apple defended by saying that slowing down iPhone was necessary to protect the hardware as the battery degrades.
Back in 2020, the company agreed to pay USD500 million to settle a related lawsuit.
To encourage affected Portuguese iPhone users to join in, the agency has published a video that you can watch below.


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After announcing “big projects” to follow up on Gears 5, the Microsoft studio launched a vast recruitment campaign on its networks.
Will we see soon an announcement for an oft-talked about but never confirmed Gears 6? Last week, The Coalition had already taken a first step in this direction, announcing the removal of a game mode from Gears 5 in order to focus its efforts on the future of the license.
We know that the studio, presented as the Unreal Engine 5 specialist at Xbox, is on several parallel projects for Microsoft’s console. Following this last communication, The Initiative therefore published on his LinkedIn a call for developers and engineers.
The link redirects on studio job offers. While the majority of these are already a few weeks or even a few months old, new proposals have appeared in recent days, showing how much society wants accelerate his search for the rest of his adventures. A narrative designer and a producer are now tracked. The listings state the color clearly:
We are the official home of the Gears of War franchise, and our goal is to shape the future of intellectual property and push the boundaries of Microsoft’s entertainment platforms and devices.
With this great recruitment which has grown even more this week, the studio attests that it has clearly already launched the project. Gears 6 or Gears Tactics 2? We don’t know yet, but we hope to find out more during the Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase, set at June 12, 2022.


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Connect with top gaming leaders in Los Angeles at GamesBeat Summit 2023 this May 22-23. Register here.
One of Electronic Art’s oldest employees is no longer with the publisher.
EA confirmed to GamesBeat that Rich Hilleman, who was serving as chief creative director, has left the company. Hilleman joined EA back in 1982. He was instrumental in the creation of the Madden series of football games, one of the most successful franchises in the history of the industry. It’s also the second-best selling sports franchise, only behind FIFA (also from EA).
“Rich Hilleman is a pioneer — a creative mind whose work influenced many games at EA and beyond,” Electronic Arts told GamesBeat. “We are thankful to Rich for his contribution over more than 30 years with the company, and we look forward to seeing what he pursues next.”
We do not know what Hilleman’s next career move will be or if it will still be in the games industry.
GamesBeat's creed when covering the game industry is "where passion meets business." What does this mean? We want to tell you how the news matters to you -- not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you read our articles, listen to our podcasts, or watch our videos, GamesBeat will help you learn about the industry and enjoy engaging with it. Discover our Briefings.


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Lenovo claims that the K4 Note will have a “killer display”. The phone will be launched on January 5, 2016.
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Lenovo is steadily creating a hype around the yet-to-be-announced K4 Note. Apart from the many rumours, the company has launched an official trailer. Lenovo claims that the upcoming phone has a “killer display”, within the teaser on the official Twitter India page. The phone is expected to be announced on January 5th, 2016. According to previous rumours, the phone is expected to offer a 5.5-inch 1080p display with Corning Gorilla Glass on top of it. Rumours also suggest that the upcoming might have an all metal unibody build.
When is a display more than just a sum of its pixels?Get ready to thrill your senses with the K4 Note#KillerNote2016 https://t.co/OnTMpyU0jY— Lenovo India (@Lenovo_in) December 29, 2015
Lenovo has come out with many teasers recently, and last week, confirmed that the K4 Note will have fingerprint sensor and NFC capabilities. Lenovo has also confirmed that the phone will have 3GB of RAM. A previous rumour suggested that the Lenovo K3 Note's successor will sport a MediaTek Helio X10 SoC, and may come in two storage options of 16GB and 32GB. It might also support microSD cards of upto 200GB. A 13MP camera is expected on the back, and the phone might get an 8MP front-facing shooter, too. The phone is expected to be powered by a 3100mAh battery. According to a previous report, the phone will support dual-4G SIM cards and will include other communications features such as Bluetooth 4.1, Wi-Fi and OTG support.
The Lenovo K3 Note, which is currently being sold in India for Rs. 9,999, is one of the most popular phones sold by Lenovo. The K4 Note is expected to be priced below the 15k mark, and is likely to offer tough competition to the current list of phones in the market. Other smartphone makers are likely to follow suit, and may launch competing devices soon after.
Light at the top, this odd looking creature lives under the heavy medication of video games.
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We are about leadership-the 9.9 kind! Building a leading media company out of India.And,grooming new leaders for this promising industry.


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TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) - A local grocery store will stop selling tobacco products in reaction to the coronavirus.
Baesler's Market in Terre Haute told News 10 they thought about stopping tobacco sales as a New Year's Resolution.
But then COVID-19, a respiratory virus, broke out and they knew they had to do something to protect the health of their customers.
On Monday, Baesler's said it would discontinue the sale of all tobacco products at both of their locations.
"It doesn't make sense for a grocery store that's motto is good food and great people to continue to sell cigarettes," Owner Bob Baesler told us.
The stores will sell through their existing inventory until all products are gone.


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Ancestry announced that it sold 1.4 million AncestryDNA test kits during the fourth quarter of 2016. The announcement indicates that Ancestry:
- Sold more than 560,000 AncestryDNA consumer genomics test kits globally over the holiday weekend starting on Black Friday
- Sold 1.4 million kits in the fourth quarter
- Sold 390,000 more kits in Q4 than were sold in all of 2015
Quoting from the press release:
The company also announced that AncestryDNA has reached a new milestone as its consumer DNA platform became the first to exceed three million participants, further establishing the company as the leader in the rapidly growing consumer genomics industry.AncestryDNA is owned and operated by Ancestry.com DNA, LLC, a subsidiary of Ancestry.com, LLC.


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Hisense has announced it’s adding a 100-inch mini-LED TVs to its lineup, outdoing nan already stacked 98-inch TV marketplace that includes nan likes of TCL, Sony and Samsung.
The 100-inch Hisense TV, which is portion of its U7KQ scope successful Europe, will beryllium disposable successful September aliases October 2023 and unit astatine €3,500-5000 (£5,000), according to FlatpanelsHD. In nan US, it will beryllium portion of nan U8K scope and will beryllium disposable for $9,999, according to Displayspecifications. There has been nary charismatic announcement connected different regions arsenic of yet.
After TCL precocious announced its caller 98-inch TV lineup – including its flagship super-bright X955 model, which we precocious saw astatine IFA 2023 – Hisense has decided to springiness consumers much prime wrong nan big-screen worth TV market.
Looking astatine nan specs of some nan Hisense 100U7K and 100U8K, they some characteristic up to 144Hz refresh complaint and 2 2.1 HDMI ports pinch VRR and ALLM capabilities for gaming. They besides connection support for a ample array of HDR formats, including some Dolby Vision and HDR10+, Dolby Atmos and a 2.1 speaker configuration, though nan U8K’s configuration adds successful 2 speakers for Dolby Atmos, making 2.1.2. The U7K successful Europe will usage Hisense’s Vidaa platform, whereas nan U8K will usage Google TV.
The Hisense 100U7K reportedly has conscionable complete 1,600 dimming zones (via DisplaySpecifications), which doesn’t rather deed nan dazzling brightness of immoderate of TCL’s 98-inch models, including nan X955 pinch its reported 5,000 dimming zones. In our reappraisal of nan U8K, we measured its highest brightness astatine 1,500 nits, which again falls short of nan 5,000 nits claimed by TCL connected nan X955.
With much and much TVs appearing successful nan big-screen marketplace and 98-inches being a very celebrated size amongst manufacturers, consumers are seeing much prime successful surface technologies to take from, but what does this mean?
So overmuch choice!
When you’re looking to bargain a caller TV, you’ll investigation what ranks amongst the champion TVs and beryllium presented pinch tons of options to take from, successful some size and surface sheet type. As request for bigger surface sizes grows, companies will look to compete pinch 1 different and supply consumers pinch nan champion prime and this usually intends falling prices.
TVs of 98-inches mostly hover astir nan $8,000-10,000 people pinch Samsung, Sony and TCL each having TVs astatine this price. But TCL precocious released a 98-inch TV, nan S5, for $5,000. And pinch Hisense’s 100-inch U7K going for astir $5,000 successful Europe, large screens are becoming much affordable (for nan surface size) and much accessible to people. You won’t person to fork retired $237,000 for LG’s 118-inch micro-LED TV immoderate clip soon!
It’s worthy noting that nan cheaper sets whitethorn not person nan aforesaid specs arsenic nan much premium models wrong nan 98-inch TV market. For example, nan TCL P745, nan affordable TV mentioned above, only uses section LED dimming arsenic opposed to immoderate of nan mini-LEDs from Samsung, Sony, Hisense and higher scope TCLs.
But erstwhile you spot its big of gaming features, you’ll beryllium pleasantly surprised. The Hisense 100U7K has a batch of these features and nan mini-LED backlight for a akin price. Is this conscionable to compete pinch TCL? If it is, it tin only beryllium bully news for consumers arsenic much title for illustration this is apt to occur.
You mightiness besides for illustration
- Mini-LED explained - nan tech successful nan U7/U8K
- Should I bargain a Hisense TV?
- Hisense's caller anti-reflective TV astatine IFA 2023


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Shares of Marine Products Corp.
Atlanta-based Marine Products reported net income of $4.73 million, or 14 cents a share, for the quarter, up from $3.36 million, or 10 cents a share, a year earlier.
Sales fell 5.4%, to $62.1 million, as an 18.1% drop in units sold more than offset a 14.2% rise in average selling prices.
Analysts polled by FactSet were expecting a profit of 19 cents a share on sales of $71.1 million.
Marine Products said the drop in unit sales was concentrated in its international markets, where sales fell by more than 50% due to trade tariffs.
Shares of Marine Products were down 3.5%, to $16.61, in mid-morning trading.
Write to Colin Kellaher at email@example.com


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Investors purchased shares of Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) on weakness during trading on Tuesday. $43.33 million flowed into the stock on the tick-up and $23.27 million flowed out of the stock on the tick-down, for a money net flow of $20.06 million into the stock. Of all companies tracked, Monster Beverage Corporation had the 21st highest net in-flow for the day. Monster Beverage Corporation traded down ($0.58) for the day and closed at $56.08
A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Credit Suisse Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $61.00 price target on shares of Monster Beverage Corporation in a research note on Thursday, September 7th. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $58.00 price target on shares of Monster Beverage Corporation in a research note on Wednesday, September 6th. BidaskClub raised shares of Monster Beverage Corporation from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 23rd. Susquehanna Bancshares Inc reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $42.00 price target (down previously from $45.00) on shares of Monster Beverage Corporation in a research note on Monday, August 7th. Finally, Jefferies Group LLC boosted their price target on shares of Monster Beverage Corporation from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Monster Beverage Corporation has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $56.28.
The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $54.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $49.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.42 and a beta of 0.99.
Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 8th. The company reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.01). Monster Beverage Corporation had a return on equity of 22.96% and a net margin of 23.98%. The business had revenue of $907.07 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $901.38 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.99 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Monster Beverage Corporation will post $1.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
In related news, Director Sydney Selati sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.00, for a total value of $560,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 52,000 shares in the company, valued at $2,912,000. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 9.40% of the company’s stock.
Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Huntington National Bank boosted its stake in Monster Beverage Corporation by 42.2% during the second quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 2,133 shares of the company’s stock worth $106,000 after buying an additional 633 shares during the period. Commonwealth Bank of Australia boosted its stake in Monster Beverage Corporation by 11.0% during the second quarter. Commonwealth Bank of Australia now owns 2,346 shares of the company’s stock worth $116,000 after buying an additional 232 shares during the period. Sun Life Financial INC boosted its stake in Monster Beverage Corporation by 29,250.0% during the second quarter. Sun Life Financial INC now owns 2,935 shares of the company’s stock worth $146,000 after buying an additional 2,925 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in Monster Beverage Corporation by 7.7% during the first quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 4,350 shares of the company’s stock worth $201,000 after buying an additional 311 shares during the period. Finally, Dynamic Advisors Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Monster Beverage Corporation during the second quarter worth $202,000. 65.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
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About Monster Beverage Corporation
Monster Beverage Corporation is a holding company. The Company develop, market, sell and distribute alternative beverage category beverages under the brand names of Monster Energy, Monster Rehab, Monster Energy Extra Strength Nitrous Technology, Java Monster, X-Presso Monster, Muscle Monster, Punch Monster, Hansen’s, Hansen’s Natural Cane Soda, Junior Juice, Blue Sky, Hubert’s, Worx Energy and Peace Tea.
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Ace Hotels, which grew out of the Pacific Northwest to be a global phenomenon, favored by a hip clientele that filled its darkish, communal lobbies, sipping on Stumptown Coffee while punching away on laptops that put the space aglow, has been acquired by Sortis Holdings, an alternative investment manager, based in Portland, Ore., for a cash consideration of $85 million, which includes the brand IP and Atelier Ace, the hotel company’s management arm.
The transaction is expected to close at the end of Q1 2023.
Sortis Holdings already has exposure to Ace: it owns the Ace Hotel Portland, along with Rudy’s, a barbershop chain that was started by Ace Hotels founder, Alex Calderwood, who died in 2013. The Rudy’s Barbershop, for instance, in New York is located adjacent to the Ace New York, on west 29th St. in Manhattan.
Beyond Ace Hotel Portland, Sortis owns an assortment of boutique, lifestyle and independent hotels, including the Mayflower Park Hotel in Seattle and the Woodlark Hotel in Portland. It also owns the Alum brand, hotels and residences in college communities, which are still under development in locations such as Eugene, Ore., College Station, Texas, Ann Arbor, Mich., and Columbus, Ohio.
“The Sortis platform is rooted in innovation, purpose and impact, and aims to foster consumer brands that are at the forefront of culture,” said Paul Brenneke, Executive Chairman of Sortis. “Our acquisition of the storied Ace Hotel brand, long known for embodying and celebrating the unique culture of each of its destinations worldwide, provides us with an opportunity to advance this vision by scaling the legacy brand in a thoughtful way.”
Ace Hotels currently numbers 11 operating properties, including Los Angeles, New York, Kyoto, Japan, and one in New Orleans under its luxury banner, Maison de la Luz, and Sortis intends to scale up the brand further. With the array of adjacent brands Sortis owns, from coffee to beauty/wellness, it’s a good bet that they will embed some of those brands into the Ace ecosystem. “Sortis is uniquely poised to amplify the Ace Hotel brand as a series of spirited cultural hubs that ignite neighborhoods and foster collaboration,” a press release said. It further told The Wall Street Journal that it intended to more than double the number of hotels in its currently portfolio to 30, with the majority being Ace Hotels.
Sortis added that the mode of expansion could be through acquisitions and conversions of exisiting hotels to the Ace brand. “There’s going to be a lot of turnover in the hotel world,” Brenneke was quoted as telling The Wall Street Journal. “When turnover happens, it creates the opportunity for a new brand to come in.”
Like many other hotel companies, Ace Hotel group has been asset light, focusing on building the brand through management contracts. The acquisition by Sortis includes one lease for the Seattle location of Ace.
Sortis Holdings’ hospitality partner Kelly Sawdon led the acquisition. Prior to joining Sortis in 2021, Sawdon was at Ace Hotel group for 15 years, as a partner and chief brand officer. “From the very beginning, Ace has had evolution built into its DNA,” Sawdon said. “This acquisition marks an exciting turning point for the brand — tapping some original key players to usher in Ace’s next chapter of growth.”
She added that Sortis will be able to “help evolve Ace’s position as the hospitality powerhouse it has always been, synonymous with community, creativity and culture.”
Ace Hotels was founded in 1999 with the first property opening in Seattle. It grew west and internationally thereafter, gaining a rabid fan base, from hipsters to financiers, all attracted by the hip design, delivered by the likes of design firm, Roman and Williams, which has worked on several Ace properties, including New York, Brooklyn and New Orleans.
The brand captured the zeitgeist of the early aughts, and forced larger brands, from Marriott to Hilton, to jump into the “lifestyle” space. Starwood Hotels & Resorts’ seminal W brand launched in 1998 and quickly scaled up from there, though its designs were decidedly different from those of Ace.
Paying homage to Ace’s hipness, a 2011 episode of the sketch comedy show “Portlandia” is set at the fictional Deuce Hotel, where the staff hand out complimentary turntables and typewriters to all guests. It was purportedly a parody of the Ace Hotel Portland.


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Last week on March 25, 2013 PlasticsEurope filed a complaint with the European Commission’s Directorate General (DG) Enterprise and Industry in response to the French ban of BPA. PlasticsEurope argues that the ban is disruptive to the European internal market and against European laws. France adopted the ban on December 13, 2012 (Legal proposition N°49). The law bans BPA from all food contact materials intended for children below 3 since January 2013 and will ban BPA from all other food contact materials by January 2015. Under European law, BPA is currently authorized for plastic food contact materials other than infant feeding bottles. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is expected to publish a new scientific opinion on BPA informing European legislators by November 2013.
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The Food Packaging Forum Foundation is a science communication organisation. The Food Packaging Forum provides independent and balanced information on issues related to food packaging and health. In doing so the Food Packaging Forum addresses all its stakeholders, including business decision makers, regulators, media and communication experts, scientists and consumers.
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Samsung announced that it will hold an Unpacked event on March 17, 2021. This year’s second event is called “Galaxy Awesome Unpacked”. The recent Galaxy A series leaks and the promotional video for last year’s models with the word “Awesome” in the title further reinforce the expectations that we will see Galaxy A52 and A72 models at this event.
An event focused entirely on promoting mid-segment devices seems extraordinary. However, the leaked information shows that Samsung takes these phones very seriously. Moreover, the interest of the Galaxy A51 and A71 models, which are described as the predecessors of these phones, may have increased the importance given by Samsung. It is stated that Samsung’s commitment to monthly security updates for mostly high-end phones will also apply to the Galaxy A52 5G model. Leaks also indicate that these new phones will have high refresh rate displays.
The Galaxy Awesome Unpacked event, which we expect Samsung to introduce the Galaxy A52 and Galaxy A72 models, will begin on Wednesday, March 17. The event will be broadcast live on Samsung’s YouTube channel. Let us state that you will find the details of the new models to be introduced in the Technoblog as soon as possible.


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Who's Cashing In on Alibaba's IPOby
Alibaba’s initial public offering will make many people a lot of money, from the banks underwriting the deal (and at least one that isn’t) to thousands of current and former employees of the company, to other tech companies riding the wave Alibaba is sending through the markets.
The company lists four individuals or entities that are actually selling stocks as part of the IPO, each of whom is moving hundreds of millions of dollars worth of stock. Its largest shareholder, Japanese telecommunications giant SoftBank, isn’t selling any shares as part of the IPO. Here’s a breakdown of who’s selling:
|Stakeholder||Percent Held before IPO||Value of Stock Sold in IPO||Percent held After IPO|
|Jack Ma||8.8%||$867 million||7.8%|
|Joseph Tsai||3.6%||$289 million||3.2%|
|Fengmao Investment Corp||2.8%||$971 million||2.1%|
(Source: Company Filings)
In addition to the cash these shareholders bring in from these sales, each one stands to be much richer on paper by the end of the day, as the remaining shares they have gain value. The stock began trading at $92.70, 36 percent above the IPO price of $68 a share.


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The international online publication Business Insider has named the "Kentucky Triangle" of Bowling Green, Owensboro, and Paducah as one of the best regions to visit in autumn.
The business site said the region offers beautiful fall foliage and lots of events.
Among the highlights mentioned are Mammoth Cave National Park, farmers' markets, bourbon, barbecue, and fall festivals.
Also on the must-see list is what is probably the world's largest sassafras tree in Owensboro.
Paducah gets a nod from Business Insider for being a "UNESCO Creative City" where visitors can find art and history.


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On Saturday, 2nd of November 2019, the 27th edition of the Wharton Africa Business Forum converged to discuss important topics relating to the economic development of the African continent. This forum drew industry professionals from the finance, technology and creative industries. Olu Oyinsan, General Partner – Oui Capital featured as a panelist to discuss “The Future of VC/Tech in Africa”.
Key issues that were discussed include;
- The current state of the venture capital industry on the African continent.
- The amount of funds raised in comparison to capital deployed and exits.
- Other technology areas that are attractive from an investment perspective.
- Talent recruitment
- The potential for scaling a technology venture to different countries, regions and their challenges.
- Investment process differentiation between the US and Africa.
Other panelists featured include Caine Wanjau (CTO, Twiga Foods), Efayomi Carr (Head, Strategic Finance, Lori Systems), and Debo Olaosebikan (Co-Founder/CTO, Gigster). The panel was moderated by Professor Stephen Sammut, who is also an Investor and Founder.
See pictures from the event.


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Is Micro Center doing Black Friday deals?
Micro Center strives to offer great prices all year, but you can find some of the best during the Micro Center Black Friday sale. Each year, the retailer brings out some of its best deals on the year’s hottest products.
Does microcenter offer discount?
Micro Center Coupon FAQs
Unfortunately, there are currently no student discount options.
Does Tractor Supply have Black Friday sales?
While Tractor Supply Company offers a great deals on products all year, the retailer’s Black Friday sale is truly something you shouldn’t miss. The Tractor Supply Company Black Friday sale features low prices on items that can make great gifts for farmers and handymen and handywomen.
Are computers cheaper on Black Friday or Cyber Monday?
“Latest-generation products tend to be cheaper on Black Friday than on Cyber Monday,” Alvarez said. “Cyber Monday is a terrific time for smart-home [devices], TVs, and consoles that are older.”
How long is Micro Center Black Friday?
Micro Center Black Friday Information
Micro Center Black Friday ad scan is 16 pages long. Micro Center Black Friday deals will be available to shoppers from November 02 through November 30, 2020.
How long do micro center deals last?
Generally their sale ad is for a whole month but they do have weekly deals as well. If it is going off sale ask if it can be held for you or you can do the online “18 minute” pickup. I reserved a 5820k online and picked it up a few days later.
How can I get free USB from microcenter?
If you have a nearby Micro Center (full list of 16 states at bottom of coupon page), then request a coupon good for two freebies – a 32GB microSD card & a 32GB USB flash drive!
Does microcenter offer free shipping?
No, Micro Center does not offer free shipping.
Does Best Buy price match microcenter?
In regards to price matching a local competitor, Micro Center or any other local retail competitor would need to be within a 25-mile radius of either the Best Buy store where you’re making your purchase, or within a 25-mile radius of the billing or shipping address, for any orders placed on BestBuy.com.
Does Tractor Supply offer a senior discount?
Tractor Supply Co.’s Senior Discount Day Explained
Rather than offer a single day discount program, customers who are 55 years of age or older receive a 10% discount off regularly priced items as long as the item is in stock every time they shop at Tractor Supply Co. … A couple of exclusions do apply to your discount.
Is Home Depot having Black Friday?
Home Depot has confirmed it will be closed this year on Thanksgiving — and will offer two months of Black Friday deals to give customers plenty of time to shop. Even though the Home Depot stores don’t open on Thanksgiving, the retailer does offer online-only deals on the holiday.
Are Black Friday Deals worth it?
Is Black Friday really cheaper?” The good news is Black Friday is absolutely worth all the hype. Almost everything you can think of goes on sale in some capacity, with the best discounts being 50% or higher. Even Apple items — which practically never go on sale — see significant discounts during Black Friday.
Are clothes cheaper on Cyber Monday?
We listed 102 clothing deals on both Thursday and Monday, but Cyber Monday had slightly more Staff Picks — 45, compared to Thanksgiving’s 42. … Many sales will offer up discounts of 50% off or more, providing a great opportunity to stock your closet with cold-weather-appropriate clothing.
What’s the difference between Black Friday and Cyber Monday?
Aside from the dates, the traditional difference between Black Friday and Cyber Monday is that Black Friday deals can be found online and in physical stores, whereas Cyber Monday is purely dedicated to online discounts. … Walmart’s Cyber Monday begins on Monday, which means its Black Friday deals are still available now.


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AT&T Seeking 20MHz Block of 600MHz Spectrum
Nov 12, 2015, 12:07 PM by Eric M. Zeman
AT&T is making plans to participate in next year's incentive auction, according to CFO John Stephens. "Spectrum is a scare asset, and so we would expect to participate," said Stephens, speaking at technology conference. "I won't suggest at what level, but we plan in our business plans to do that, and we'll see how it plays out, what's available. Certainly, getting a nationwide opportunity is what we've talked about in the past. A 2x10 MHz nationwide capability is something that works very well with our network planning and our network team, but we will see how this develops." AT&T already has significant low-band spectrum holdings in the 700MHz range. The incentive auction, planned for the middle of next year, will see television broadcasters turn in their spectrum licenses which will then be auctioned off to wireless broadband providers. AT&T's participation in the auction is somewhat limited thanks to a reserve for smaller carriers put in place by the FCC. T-Mobile has said it will spend up to $10 billion to get the low-band spectrum it needs to better compete with AT&T and Verizon Wireless. Sprint is sitting the auction out. Verizon hasn't discussed its plans in detail.
May 10, 2023
The top three US carriers will all sell both the Google Pixel 7a and Pixel Fold. All three will sell the Pixel 7a starting this afternoon.
May 4, 2023
T-Mobile is the first US carrier to successfully test carrier aggregation on the uplink side of a 5G data connection on a live 5G SA network. This new technology enabled upload data speeds of 207 Mbps, a record for sub-6 GHz (non-mmWave) 5G.
Jul 11, 2023
Nothing has unveiled its Phone (2), which will be Nothing's first phone officially available in the US. The phone has good support for most of the sub-6 5G and 4G bands used by T-Mobile and AT&T.
Jun 1, 2023
Motorola has launched two new foldable phones, creating a lineup of 2023 razr phones with flexible display technology. The higher-end razr+ has the largest outer display of a modern flip-style phone, and is the thinnest when closed.


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Shares in Rivian Automotive Inc. bounced in late trading after the electric vehicle maker reported better-than-expected earnings and reduced its guidance for capital expenditure this year.
For the quarter that ended Sept. 30, Rivian reported an adjusted non-generally accepted accounting principles loss of $1.57 per share compared to a loss of $7.69 per share in the same quarter of 2021. Revenue came in at $536 million, up from $1 million last year before Rivian started selling cars. Analysts had expected an EPS loss of $1.82 on revenue of $551.6 million.
Rivian’s net loss in the quarter came in at $1.72 million, up from $1.23 billion in the third quarter of last year. As of the end of the quarter, the company had $13.8 billion in cash and equivalents on hand.
Vehicles are important when it comes to Rivian and the numbers were solid, with the company confirming it is on track to produce 25,000 vehicles in 2022. Vehicle production was up 67% compared to the previous quarter, with the added capacity needed as Rivian currently has over 114,000 preorders for its R1 vehicle (pictured) in the U.S. and Canada as of Nov. 7. The R1 number does not include the 100,000 electric delivery vehicle order Rivian also has on its books from Amazon.com Inc.
All that said, Rivian still has a long way to go, having only so far produced approximately 15,000 vehicles in total since it began manufacturing, with 7,363 vehicles produced in the third quarter and 6,584 delivered. While Rivian continues to ramp up production – its Illinois factory has added a second shift of workers, the company is also looking to slow spending, saying that it has delayed the launch of its smaller vehicle – the R2, to 2026 rather than 2025 as previously planned.
Rivian’s efforts to ramp up production have not been without problems. Automotive News reports that the lack of a vehicle component caused five days of production line downtime in October and November. While not naming the part, Rivian claimed that it was working with the supplier of the component to address supply issues.
Looking forward, Rivian said it was still on track for a $5.45 billion adjusted loss in 2022, the outlook given in its second-quarter earnings. However, the outlook for capital expenditure was cut to $1.75 billion for the year versus the previous forecast of $2 billion due to Rivian streamlining its product roadmap and shifting certain capital expenditures to 2023.
Rivian is a company still burning money with a long way to go to deliver on its promises, but investors liked the lower EPS figure and that Rivian is looking to cut costs. Rivian shares were up 6.8% as of 7 p.m. EST.
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Poco F3 GT is set for launch in India on July 23 and ahead of its launch, the landing page for the device has gone live on Flipkart. The landing page reveals some key details about the device ahead of the launch. Expected to be a rebadge of the Redmi K40 Gaming Edition, the phone’s key design details have also been revealed by the landing page of the Poco F3 GT.
As per the landing page, the Poco F3 GT will offer a 120Hz AMOLED panel with HDR10+ support. There will be no curves as this looks to be a flat display. The page also reveals the device will be 8.3 mm in thickness and feature an aluminium alloy frame painted in “Gunmetal Silver”.
Poco F3 GT specifications and features
Under the hood, the Poco F3 GT will be powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 1200 SoC and has been shown to also feature a large vapour chamber and graphite heat sink for ensuring good cooling during long gaming sessions. Apart from this, the revealed specifications claim the phone will get UFS 3.1 storage. Keeping the lights on the device is a 5,065 mAh battery, which the company claims can deliver up to two days of battery life. The phone is also expected to support 67W fast charging.
Apart from this, the phone is shown to support Dolby Atmos plus Hi-Res Audio (both wired and wireless). On the optics front, it will get a triple camera setup. Of the three cameras, the primary will be a 64MP lens. This will be paired to an 8MP lens and another 2MP lens.
Earlier, during an interview, Mr Anuj Sharma, Country director, POCO India revealed that the Poco F3 GT will have a price tag of less than Rs 30,000 although he didn’t provide any specific figure. The expectation is this will be the base variant of the device, with the F3 GT top variant most likely cost somewhere around Rs 35,000.


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When Hewlett-Packard canceled its hardware futures for PA-RISC on MPE/iX, the vendor promoted its Itanium systems as a replacement. A recent report from the caretakers of Linux shows that Itanium support is now being dropped for Linux. The creator of the OS even used a popular Star Trek line in his news of the demise.
The preferred HP solution, when it triggered the migration from the MPE legacy environment, was Itanium. In the middle 2000s, Linux was an all-purpose environment that some HP 3000 refugees embraced, running on the Itanium-based Integrity servers.
Integrity felt like a safe place to shift an enterprise operating environment. Some software vendors swore off of anything so proprietary, though. Quintessential School Systems (QSS) rebuilt its applications at considerable expense. The migration was careful to remain on vendor-neutral platforms for both software and hardware.
QSS didn’t trust HP to provide hardware for its migrations applications that serve K-12 school systems. It chose a LAMP-based software set, with the L in that configuration standing for Linux.
Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux, announced that HP’s proprietary hardware that was designed to replace PA-RISC would now be orphaned, going forward.
“HPE no longer accepts orders for new Itanium hardware, and Intel stopped accepting orders a year ago,” Torvalds in a comment on the git technical hub. “While Intel is still officially shipping chips until July 29, 2021, it’s unlikely that any such orders actually exist. It’s dead, Jim.”
Meanwhile, the x86 hardware which hosts Linux hardware worldwide is enjoying its fourth decade of acceptance. At one point in the 1990s, HP had partnered with Intel to develop Itanium as a next-generation replacement for x86. The wide range of applications that needed x86 hosts never could be convinced to make costly migrations to Itanium.
Legacy hardware environments, hosted on x86 platforms using Linux as a cradle for an OS like MPE/iX or VMS, run in corporate datacenters today. The IT marketplace still bets on technology that’s proven itself.


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Amazon One is another solution turning futuristic visions of screenwriters into reality. Soon we will be able to pay for products in their network stores with a palm scan.
Amazon One, contactless palm scan payment available in the brand’s stores
The undeniable global e-commerce giant has recently presented its proprietary palm recognition technology that will allow us to use our hand, not a credit card, in the company’s retail stores. Amazon One, as the new service is named, uses a scan of the human hand for identification purposes, and in doing so uses a complex combination of details of its surface – lines, ridges or vein patterns
Although for now the developers are limiting the use of this type of payment to Amazon’s branches, they make no secret of their desire to develop it and make it appear in stores and service premises unrelated to the network. Like all innovations of this type, the project raises some controversy, especially from those who are aware of the brand’s questionable ethical practices. However, Amazon assures that it does not store the data collected, and all palm images are encrypted and securely stored.
Main photo: Christian Wiediger/unsplash.com


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Romania’s Oradea hosts Unchain Fintech Festival in July
Oradea, a major city in northwest Romania, will be the host of Unchain Fintech Festival this summer. The fintech & blockchain event is scheduled for July 13-14.
Bankers, financial institutions, regulators, startups, investors, and all other key stakeholders of the ecosystem will come together at the Unchain Fintech Festival to discuss the latest trends, create business opportunities and spark innovation in financial services.
“Together with all the relevant experts in the financial and tech industry, we will shape the business landscape in payments, loans, insurance, personal finance, e-commerce, banking, and more. Central and Eastern Europe has a great potential of being one of the key drivers in the global fintech and blockchain economic shift. Regional unicorns have offered just a glimpse into the potential of the CEE and, through Unchain Fintech Festival, we aim to grow and maximize the innovation and business capabilities of the region,” said Alexandra Pollack, Co-Founder and CEO of Unchain Fintech Festival.
The two-day festival will be split into three main events, namely Unchain Trends, Unchain Ideas, and Unchain Connections. Ticket prices start at EUR 150. Further details are available here.
According to the organizers, Unchain Fintech Festival is set to become the flagship regional event for fintech and blockchain in Central and Eastern Europe.
(Photo source: the organizers)


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Another US-traded Chinese online game firm could be headed for de-listing, after shares of China Mobile Games (Nasdaq: CMGE) tanked on reports of a major bribery scandal. China Mobile Games' woes are just the latest in a growing list for US-traded online game makers, which have earned the official title of "no respect" from Wall Street investors. Two of the sector's biggest players, Shanda Games (Nasdaq: GAME) and Giant Interactive (NYSE: GA), are in the process of privatizing, and I wouldn't be surprised to see a buyout offer emerge for China Mobile Games following this new scandal.
In fact, the new scandal probably isn't all that scandalous by Chinese standards, and reportedly involves allegations that China Mobile Games executives paid bribes to boost the company's business. Allegations of false accounting and other financial shenanigans would have been much more damaging, exposing bigger fundamental problems with the company. But bribery allegations can be more easily "rectified" with a few staff adjustments, and shouldn't have nearly as huge an impact on the company's finances.
The source of all the latest news appears to be a research report issued by Japan's Nomura, though I couldn't find an actual copy of that report. According to other media, 9 executives, including the company's president, have been suspended from China Mobile Games due in the scandal. (English article; Chinese article) The company's CEO Xiao Jian wasn't one of the 9, and is temporarily taking over many of the roles previously performed by President Ying Shuling.
China Mobile Games shares lost as much as 25 percent of their value in the trading session after the news came out, and closed down 22 percent. Even at their current levels, the company still has a fairly large market value of nearly $500 million. That could make it a nice, mid-sized takeover target for an opportunistic buyer looking to capitalize on the sell-off.
China Mobile Games is a relatively strong online game company, but like many of its peers it has gotten very little respect from Wall Street investors since its unusual method of listing by introduction in 2012. The company's shares initially traded at around $15, and then rallied sharply earlier this year to as much as $40 on a wave of bullishness about Chinese Internet stocks. This latest sell-off has brought them back to their levels right after the IPO, with the stock last trading at $14.63.
China Mobile Games' woes are just the latest for a Chinese gaming company on Wall Street. Shanda and Giant both announced their privatization plans over the past year due to undervaluation, and reports earlier this week said Giant was weighing a re-listing in Hong Kong closer to its home market (previous post). Last month, mobile games maker Chukong Technology was also forced to yank its plans for a New York IPO after making several preliminary filings (previous post).
The problem with all of these companies is that few can post consistent strong growth due to their heavy dependence on individual games for their success. Thus a company that posts huge growth this year due to popularity of a new game title could see that growth evaporate 2 years later if it fails to find a replacement. The only companies with large enough scale to avoid that fate so far have been industry leaders Tencent (HKEx: 700) (OTCPK:TCEHY) and NetEase (Nasdaq: NTES).
So, what exactly is ahead for China Online Games? The company's shares are unlikely to fall much further, though resolving the scandal and settling a flood of shareholder lawsuits will take time and could disrupt regular business for the next 6 months. In the meantime, there's a reasonably good chance someone might launch a buy-out for the company, meaning there could be some upside for the stock.
Bottom line: China Mobile Games is unlikely to suffer a long-term impact from a new bribery scandal, and its shares could have some upside if a buyout offer emerges.


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Will kiosks soon replace workers?
Leonard Comma, Jack in the Box CEO, speaking at the ICR Conference in Orlando, Fla., told the audience automation might be the solution to rising labor costs, according to a report by Business Insider. The fast food chain is considering replacing cashiers with automation.
“As we see the rising costs of labor, it just makes sense,” he was quoted as saying.
Jack in the Box tested automatic kiosks years ago, but at the time, they were too expensive to install on a large scale across locations. Now, as minimum wage increases, Jack in the Box is reportedly looking again at kiosks and other technology to help control these rising labor costs.
California—one of 18 states planning to raise its minimum wage this year—will up its minimum wage to $11, raising it to $15 by 2023.
Jack in the Box is far from alone. Wendy’s Co. is testing self-order kiosks in about 1,000 stores. Last year, McDonald’s Corp. introduced its “Experience of the Future” plan that would bring self-order kiosks and other tech upgrades to 2,500 stores.